FG Refutes Badenoch’s Claim Nigeria Won’t Allow Her Children Citizenship

The Federal Government has strongly refuted claims by UK Conservative Party leader, Ms. Kemi Badenoch, that Nigerian laws prevent women from passing citizenship to their children, describing the statement as “false and disturbing.”

Badenoch, in an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria on Sunday, had claimed that Nigeria’s citizenship laws are discriminatory against women.

“It’s virtually impossible to get Nigerian citizenship,” she said. “I had that citizenship by virtue of my parents; I can’t give it to my children because I’m a woman,” she had claimed.

Reacting to the claim, spokesperson of the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kimiebi Imomotimi Ebienfa, told The Nation newspaper that Badenoch’s statement lacked legal basis and misrepresented Nigeria’s Constitution.

“This is a false and very disturbing narrative because Section 25 of the Nigerian Constitution allows citizenship by descent to children born abroad, if either parent is a Nigerian citizen, with no gender distinction,” Ebienfa clarified.

Joining in the rebuttal, Presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga took to his X (formerly Twitter) handle to describe Badenoch’s comments as misleading and called for a retraction and apology.

“Britain should send our lost daughter, Kemi Badenoch, home for a proper re-education,” Onanuga posted. “Section 25 of our Constitution defines who has the right to Nigerian citizenship. Kemi Badenoch lied. She owes her fatherland some apology.”

He further quoted Section 25 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which states:

“Every person born outside Nigeria either of whose parents is a citizen of Nigeria” is entitled to citizenship by birth.
Onanuga emphasized that the provision makes no distinction between maternal or paternal citizenship and is inclusive of both male and female Nigerian citizens.